Foreign Affairs

Question 1

What was an issue of great concern for Elizabeth’s ministers?

Answer 1

Her marriage

Question 2

Who was eliz’s natural successor?
Due to her not having an heir

Answer 2

MQS - devout catholic

Question 3

Why was there fears over MQS coming to throne?

Answer 3

Fear of a catholic inheritance was strong among eliz’s Protestant nobility and her death without a successor could bring about civil war, foreign invasion of religious strife.

Question 4

what was the queen’s opinion about the issues of marriage?

Answer 4

She felt the issues of marriage and succession lay within the royal prerogative and were not areas for discussion either in parliament or even by the council.
She was not short of suitors - both from within England and abroad

Question 5

Who were Elizabeth’s suitors?

Answer 5

• Robert Dudley (earl of Leicester)
• prince Erik of Sweden
• Francis, Duke of Anjou
• the archdukes of Ferdinand and Charles
• Phillip II of Spain

Question 6

Who was Robert Dudley?

Answer 6

Earl of Leicester from 1564
English nobleman but opposed by Cecil and marred by scandal over death of first wife (possible murder)
Protestant

Question 7

What religion was prince Erik of Sweden?

Answer 7

Protestant

Question 8

Who was Francis Duke of Anjou?

Answer 8

Brother of king H3 of France
Proposed by Cecil, 1579
Catholic

Question 9

Who were the archdukes of Ferdinand and Charles?

Answer 9

Sons of the emporer Ferdinand
Catholic

Question 10

Who was Philip II of Spain?

Answer 10

Marys ex bird
Keen to maintain influence in England
Devoutly catholic

Question 11

Who was MQS?

Answer 11

Had fled south in 1568 - after a breakdown in her relationship with the Protestant lords had culminated in a brief civil war
Living in captivity in England
She represented a continuous threat to eliz, since some English catholics saw her as the rightful monarch
This problem increased when eliz was excommunicated in 1570, meaning that the pope freed her catholic subjects from the need to obey her

Question 12

What did Mary become the focus of?

Answer 12

4 plots to overthrow eliz between 1571 and 1586
The last of these, the Babinton plot of 1586 resulted in a trial at which she was found guilty
Although eliz was reluctant to authorise the execution of another anointed monarch, Cecil convinced her that it was necessary for her personal safety and the security of the Protestant state

Question 13

When was MQS beheaded?

Answer 13

1587
This provided and excuse for Phillip II, whose suit of eliz had broken down by the 1970s, to send an Amanda against England in 1588

Question 14

Who was eliz eventually succeeded by?

Answer 14

MQS’s son, James VI of Scotland - who had the best hereditary claim
He was prot and already had 2 sons by 1600
Councillors such as Essex and Cecil had already made contact w James when eliz died in 1603, ensuring a smooth transition

Question 15

What were Anglo-Spanish relations like?

Answer 15

• they began cordially in the 1560s, as Philip proposed marriage w eliz
• however, they had deteriorated by 1570s and became steadily worse during the rest of eliz’s reign

Question 16

What threatened the Spanish trading monopoly in the Caribbean?

Answer 16

John Hawkins’ trading activity

Question 17

What was the relationship like with the Netherlands?

Answer 17

The catholic Philip II (who controlled the Netherlands), clashed w Dutch Protestants. Protestant councillors pressurised eliz to aid the Protestants. She was reluctant to support the rebels but her expulsion from the English ports of the sea beggars (Dutch pirates) in 1572 sparked a revolt in the Netherlands against Spanish rule

Question 18

What did the English do in 1568 in relation to Spain?

Answer 18

• the English seized Spanish vessels, driven by a storm into English ports, and confiscated the money they carried, which was intended to pay Philip’s army in the Netherlands

Question 19

What did Philip support?

Answer 19

The northern rebellion (1569) and the ridolfi plot to replace eliz with MQS (1571)

Question 20

In the 1570s and early 1580s why was Philip’s success in the Netherlands of concern to Elizabeth?

Answer 20

Relations continued to deteriorate as privateers captures considerable quantities of Spanish bullion on its way to Europe from the new world

Question 21

1584 - Philip’s treaty of Joinville with the catholic league in France?

Answer 21

Proved the final straw and an Anglo-Spanish war broke out in 1585

Question 22

What did eliz do to counteract the terms of the treaty of Joinville?

Answer 22

She made the treaty of Nonsuch with the Dutch prot rebels and sent troops to Netherlands under the command of the earl of Leicester. However, the English commanders quarrelled among themselves and the troops were ill-disciplined.

Question 23

What did the English successfully attack in 1587?

Answer 23

The Spanish ships at Cadiz
- delaying the launch of the Spanish Armada (invasion fleet)

Question 24

What happened in 1588 with Leicester?

Answer 24

He retuned to England. Philip’s huge armada set sail with plans to load a Spanish army in the Netherlands, for an invasion of England. It was sighted of Cornwall, engaged in indecisive battle (by Drake) in the English Channel. And forced by unfavourable winds to round Scotland and Ireland, losing many ships to rocks and storms

Question 25

Where was the war fought?

Answer 25

Both at sea, off Western Europe and in the Caribbean, and on land (including in Ireland, where it was connect to a revolt against Elizabeth’s rule).

Question 26

Was the war expensive?

Answer 26

Dragged on at a great expense

Question 27

What did sir Francis Vere do?

Answer 27

Worked effectively with the Dutch prots so that the Spanish were expelled from the north by 1594. The country was divided into independent Protestant north and catholic south, the latter under Spanish sovereignty.

Question 28

Who were attacks on Spanish shipping by?

Answer 28

They were mounted both by professional seamen such as Hawkins, drake and Frobisher, and by courtiers such as Walter Raleigh, achieved some financial gains but little strategic success

Question 29

Why did Philip order in 1596?

Answer 29

Another invasion of England. But the fleet was defeated by storms.

Question 30

When was the war finally concluded?

Answer 30

1604, after the deaths of both Philip and Elizabeth

Question 31

Overall opinion on eliz’s FP?

Answer 31

Broadly successful, although costly. Dynastic considerations were couple w the desire for glory and the national interest

Question 32

Overall what did the conflict with Spain bring?

Answer 32

It was long running, expensive and bought limited gain